0

Is it correct to say "1 feet 1 inches"? This site shows examples of such expressions. They might have been erroneously automatically generated, though.

Notes: I'm not sure who would ever think this is a duplicate, but I just want to say that this question is, if anything, the opposite of what it's supposedly the duplicate of. There's no such question as "Why don't we pluralize “foot” in measurements?" here; I ask if it's correct to say "1 feet 1 inches" and that's it. Logically, I would assume that you don't say either "1 feet" or "1 inches" because those seem ungrammatical at the very least.

Vun-Hugh Vaw
  • 5,400
  • 3
    They’re almost certainly automatically generated, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re erroneous. You can certainly find many examples of native English speakers saying they are “five feet [or foot] one inches” tall, even if they would otherwise categorically consider “one inches” to be ungrammatical. I don’t think “one feet” works, even in this context, but I wouldn’t be overly surprised if someone, somewhere used it. If you say “one foot one inch”, though, you’re certain to be correct. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Dec 10 '16 at 12:54
  • @FumbleFingers It could be a duplicate. But why are you referring me to a question to which you overwhelmingly failed to provide an answer? Should I just click that "That solve my problem!" button even when clearly it doesn't? – Vun-Hugh Vaw Dec 10 '16 at 16:27
  • As @Janus points out, your specific example is obviously auto-generated by a simple algorithm that doesn't reflect actual usage accurately. I hadn't realised when I linked to it that there was an answer of my own there (which I don't disown, despite the net -6 downvotes) - but if you don't like that answer, perhaps you'll like something on this or this. Or ask a less obviously Is this a software error? type of question on English Language Learners (where it belongs). – FumbleFingers Dec 10 '16 at 17:12
  • @FumbleFingers Dude, those "this or this" are just as relevant as your answer. I never said I didn't like it because of the downvotes, but because you clearly missed the point of that original question. If you don't even realize that yourself, how qualified do you think you are to make references? – Vun-Hugh Vaw Dec 10 '16 at 17:19
  • I don't think I've missed anything. I don't think this is really a valid question in the first place (here or on ELL), because effectively you're just asking us to "proofread" the output from a simple website that's clearly not even intended to exemplify "correct" syntax. But all those earlier questions were asked before ELL even existed. If you really still have a problem, why don't you just ask on the right site? And don't base your question on just one clearly incorrect autogenerated example. – FumbleFingers Dec 10 '16 at 17:31
  • @FumbleFingers Funny you should bring that up. I'm genuinely not sure why the English Language Learners site is the "right" one. I mean people do ask questions about how to use proper grammar and vocabulary, which are issues to discuss among EL learners, on this very site, don't they? – Vun-Hugh Vaw Dec 10 '16 at 17:36
  • ELU is a site for linguists, etymologists, and (serious) English language enthusiasts. Feasibly we might be interested exploring the whys and wherefores of some particular idiomatic usage, but in this case it seems your emphasis is more a matter of asking what native speakers actually say. The fact that one bit of low-grade formatting code causes you to doubt your own understanding of "syntactically acceptable" usage in this context implies you are a "learner", so why don't you want to use the site specifically set up to address your needs? – FumbleFingers Dec 10 '16 at 17:47
  • @FumbleFingers Thanks for the heads-up. Though I'd like to point out that "English language enthusiasts" and "unless the source of concern is clearly specified" in the guideline sound rather vague, considering this very case in which I would definitely consider myself as English-language-enthusiastic and I listed my source of concern for this question. – Vun-Hugh Vaw Dec 10 '16 at 17:59
  • I fully accept that the dividing line between ELU and ELL isn't all that clear-cut (and some ELU users don't even endorse the existence of ELL anyway). It's also pretty obvious that even if you're not a native speaker, your command of English is quite good. But you might find Difference between “two years old and two-year-old” interesting, over on ELL. And if things are still unclear, you might well get more useful responses by asking for more clarification from answers there (or by posting a fresh question, obviously). – FumbleFingers Dec 10 '16 at 18:16
  • ...also note that it's always singular in a ten-foot barge pole (an "attributive" adjective, used before the noun). Both forms are at least credible in The pole is ten foot/feet long, but in practice the singular there is relatively uncommon, and tends to occur primarily in colloquial speech. – FumbleFingers Dec 10 '16 at 18:21

0 Answers0